Latin America is the third largest market for nutraceuticals in the world, after Asia-Pacific and North America. A growing trend of health and wellness across the different economies has supported the revenues of the nutraceuticals industry over the years. The region has been presenting immense growth opportunities for several market players over the years, owing to Latin America’s favorable economic growth and rising disposable incomes. Brazil has been the largest market for dietary supplements in the Latin American region from last five years. Mexico has been the next largest market which gathered revenues worth USD ~ million in 2012 and simultaneously accounted for a share of ~% in 2012. Apart from these, Venezuela, Colombia, Argentina and Chile are other emerging markets where the trend of consumption of nutraceuticals is steadily gaining popularity.
The marketers operating in one country in this region often expand to other geographic markets as well, led by the similarities in the social environment. However, a major challenge exists in the form of lack of harmonization in the regulations across the countries, which poses difficulties in terms of marketing nutraceuticals across the region. The nutraceuticals, chiefly dietary supplements, are classified differently in each of the countries. Additionally, some countries also put broad restrictions on the use of botanicals and herbal ingredients. Furthermore, more challenges exist in terms of use of health claims, as well as time and resource consuming registrations.